Yokai Matsuri, un "strange festival" mixing traditional and alternative Japan in Paris, launched by the artist Maïa Barouh

“The strange Japanese festival”, such is the enticing subtitle that accompanies the name of the Yokai Matsuri event, which kicks off on Sunday May 31 in the north-east of Paris, at the Petite Halle de la Villette. This event, which combines the concepts of mythological creatures and popular Japanese festivals, takes place over three days and evenings (the other dates being June 28 and July 28). It is thought up, designed and carried by Maïa Barouh, singer, author, composer and Franco-Japanese flautist, daughter of the actor, singer and author Pierre Barouh. “Everything hybrid interests me, explains Maïa Barouh to Franceinfo Culture. This festival aims to celebrate the strange, everything that doesn’t fit into boxes, everything that may seem uncomfortable. At my concerts, I often invite people to get lost, to celebrate all these in-betweens… We tend to think that it’s derogatory, that it doesn’t sell… On the contrary, it’s in the in-betweens that it happens.” The singer introduces us to the festival and its musical guests.

Franceinfo Culture: You are originally a musician, how was the idea of ​​creating this festival born?
Maïa Barouh : It has been in gestation for a very long time, twenty to twenty-five years. It was also born from my experiences and my desire to want to share everything I experienced during my years in Tokyo. I started my musical career in Tokyo Underground, the very queer, cabaret scene, and I was surrounded by strippers, drag queens, burlesque dancers, unclassifiable and incredible night creatures. For me, we can call it yokai [figures du folklore japonais] of the artistic scene! More than fifteen years ago, I created a type of show called the Shinjuku cabaret where I brought a few artists from that field to France, but it was still very early for me, I didn’t really know how to put on shows in France, it’s a completely different job than that of a musician! So I put this desire aside and focused on my musical projects. But this desire persisted, the name “Yokai Matsuri” appeared to me and following different meetings, things aligned, I decided to give it a go. I think that this event was waiting for the right moment to appear.

Que signifie Yokai Matsuri?
“Matsuri” refers to a popular neighborhood festival. In Japan, there have been more than 300,000 “matsuri” for hundreds of years and which have been brought up to date. It’s very Japanese in a way, this anachronistic side of traditions which are in constant movement, which still exist today. In every neighborhood, every small town, people have their matsuri with their dance, their celebration and their protective deity that they honor. Every matsuri is different, and that’s great. It’s something that fascinates me, that I love and that I find so Japanese!

And the mythical yokai beings invite themselves to your party…
Yokai are these monsters from Japanese folklore, half-evil, half-mischievous. In the old days, it was a way for people to put a face to what was inexplicable, the mysteries, the worries of life. In Japan, a country that experiences a lot of natural disasters (tsunamis, earthquakes), it’s a way of explaining, of putting a face to the events. So after a tsunami, people will say: “It’s because of the evil whale!” Or if a child dies drowned in the river, it’s because of the yokai Kappa because he drowns the children… At the same time, there is a very playful, very crazy, very crazy side when you read the profiles of each yokai! Somewhere, these creatures have remained present in the daily lives of the Japanese. We see it a lot in Miyazaki’s films. I think the French who love Miyazaki know them. They are found in Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro… What’s great and what amuses me, whether it’s the folk songs I sing, or the matsuri, is that everyone can invent their own yokai. That’s why I say to myself: come on, we’re going to invent our own maturi, we’re going to create our yokai. Everyone will invent, summon their monster and we will create a new ritual, a new common celebration, together. That was the idea of ​​this festival. In addition, these evenings are designed like masked balls. People who are inspired can make holes in a piece of cardboard and color it! Otherwise, don’t worry, there will be plenty to do there!

The festival will therefore combine these characters from tradition with very contemporary arts and artists…
Yes, and it is important to know that these three days only mark the beginnings, the experimentation of the idea of ​​this festival. The project is to be able to do a real festival over three days in a larger venue, to have several stages, and to bring artists from both the folk scene and the queer scene, from the more alternative scene of Japan. In this case, for these firsts at the Petite Halle, I could not bring people from Japan. Except for the July date for which I am very lucky. I have a completely crazy group, Seppuku Pistols, who are arriving from Japan for a European tour, and whom I managed to bring to the Petite Halle right in the middle of their tour! So on July 28, if you want to go crazy, you have to come see them! There are around fifteen of them, punks with folk percussion, and they put people in a trance!

A few words about the other guest groups at the festival?
They all have a “mixed Japanese” side but they come from Europe. The first group this Sunday is Mitsuné, they are based in Berlin, but in fact no one is German since there are two Japanese, an Australian-Japanese and a Greek. They are incredible, real yokai, totally unclassifiable, completely crazy and great musicians. They have this approach, quite close to mine, of mixing folk songs in their own way, with a very psychedelic side too and completely improbable costumes. For the second edition on June 28, there will be Alek and the Japanese, a duo composed of a Japanese and a Belgian. It’s more offbeat pop. My dream is that one day, I can do the same thing with French artists in Japan. Being able to make Yokai Matsuri in reverse and bring yokai from the French artistic scene to Japan.

Yokai Matsuri, the strange festival of Japan
Sunday May 31, Sunday June 28 and Tuesday July 28, 2026
Petite Halle de la Villette, 211 avenue Jean-Jaurès 75019 Paris
From 11 a.m. to midnight
By day: Japanese stalls, workshops (free entry)
In the evening from 7:30 p.m.: Maïa Barouh and guest musical groups, dance performance and DJ sets (entry: 16 euros, with the probable exception of the evening of July 28 which could be free)